Archive for August 17, 2015

It is said that in tough times, when you can’t see God’s hands, you can trust His loving heart.

But perhaps, some Christians grapple with this issue of a loving God who allows suffering in this world.
In fact, a common argument a skeptic raises against the Bible is this: If God is all powerful and all loving, why does He allow suffering? Either He is not powerful enough to prevent suffering or He is not all loving.

The answer to that question is: God is all powerful and all loving.
He allows suffering because He has a reason.

Therefore, a question comes up: If you can’t see His hands and can’t see His loving heart, what would you do?
Let me suggest that we can trust in His wisdom.

Let’s examine the book of Job.

Job had no idea at all why suffered.
He didn’t claim to be perfect.
His claim was that even though he wasn’t perfect, surely he didn’t deserve all the suffering he experienced.

He wanted to speak with God Himself.
In fact, it was rather a demand than request as the language he used was in the context of supreme court of justice.

God then spoke to Job.
Interestingly, God never ever revealed the reason why Job suffered.
Neither did He mention to Job about love.
Understandably, it is way more difficult to talk about love in difficult time.
It is easier to talk about love in time of peace.
In a way, God was telling Job: Who are you to contend with Me? You don’t even know how the whole universe works!

That is the key.
If God knows how to manage the universe, surely He has a reason when He allows suffering.
He never acts arbitrarily.
He is all-wise, after all.

Most likely when Job was alive, he didn’t know at all why he suffered.
Now that he is in heaven (or Abraham’s bosom), he surely he now knows the reason.
Perhaps he is also glad that his suffering becomes a lesson for Christians.

When things get tough and we can’t see His hands, we can trust His loving heart.
Even when we can’t trust His loving heart, we can still trust in His wisdom.